Premier League Primary Stars Football Tournament

With the sun bearing down on us, the local footballing world converged on SMCC on Friday 20th April.  With coaching staff from: Exeter City F.C and Plymouth Argyle F.C; representatives from the football association and the 25KG solid silver Premier League Trophy in attendance, this was the most high profile sporting fixture we had ever attended.

The Premier League Primary Stars football tournament, North Devon leg was a fantastic opportunity to test our credentials against the very best football teams in North Devon. The high profile of the tournament brought together schools from all over Devon.

We started brightly, taking a 1 – 0 lead in our opening game against local rivals South Molton. We kept them at bay for some time before our resolve broke, going down to a 4 – 1 loss.  Same story in our second game.  A much improved performance against a very talented Newport Academy.  Losing 4 – 1 to the eventual tournament winners was a brilliant result for us.  Newport had convincing victories of 9 – 0 and 7 -2 on their way to the trophy.

It was a scorching hot day and our dogged players had no breaks in between matches. Red faced and already jaded by their efforts (and this was just the supporters) our third match would easily have made the highlight package on Match of the Day!  It was an end to end game with both sides having chances.  Some stunning saves by our goalkeeper kept us in the game on more than one occasion.  Chulmleigh proved to be the better side though  winning the game 3 – 1.

Having played football in the heat for over an hour and half, our players had to pick themselves up for one last effort. We knew we could not go any further in the competition but we were determined to take home a result from this prestigious competition.

As ever, they didn’t disappoint. A huge final effort was made, playing our most attractive football of the day.  A well-deserved 3 – 0 victory over St Petroc was our reward followed by a photo with the Premier League trophy.

I am so proud of all the players. Several referees commented on our children’s attitude on the pitch and the overall effort without breaks in the heat was phenomenal.

Mr Scandrett

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